Dec
12
Crasnick: Yanks land Burnett
ByUpdate: Here’s the link. Still doesn’t make it any better.
This comes straight from MLB Trade Rumors. According to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN, the Yankees have signed A.J. Burnett to a five-year deal worth $82.5 million. We expected this was coming. That doesn’t mean we have to like it. More to come as we get it.
228 Comments»
RAB Info
The Founders
Mike Axisa, Ben Kabak, Joe Pawlikowski
Editor-In-Chief
Mike Axisa Archives | Email
Managing Editors
Ben Kabak Archives | E-mail
Joe Pawlikowski Archives | E-mail
Contributing Editors
Larry Koestler (Archives)
Moshe Mandel (Archives)
Stephen Rhoads (Archives)
Weekend Writers
Hannah Ehrlich (Archives)
Matthew Warden (Archives)
Special Contributor
J.R. O'Grady (Archives)
Technical Consultant
Jay Gordon
Subscribe to RAB by RSS and Twitter
Follow @RiverAveBlues Search RAB
Banner Design By
The Mason Williams Watch
on the bright side… atleast they didnt have to pay 85 or 90…
trying to be positive here.
How about he owns Boston!
He has averaged 170 innings per year the last 5 seasons. Maybe that can be a positive? I am much happier to have him then to have Lowe, who I still don’t trust. I think his next 3 seasons will be better then Lowes. And we don’t have to worry about an adjustment to the AL East. Plus, he has the stuff to dominate in the playoffs.
Trying to come up with some positives here.
those are some pretty good positives, actually.
you’re helping cure my agita. thanks-
Thanks. Take out the fractured foot (minors) and Tommy John surgery (who everyone has it seems and comes back stronger), I don’t know how bad a signing this is.
Lets hope halladay gave him some good mechanics advice…
Mechanics don’t help if you just plain old get hurt a lot.
Would be nice if Halladay taught him some pitches so he’d have more than two to rely on as we get into years 4 and 5 though.
i don’t care about years 4-5. all i care about is 1, 2 and 3. In 4 years, we’ll be losing Posada and Mo. We need to win now.
Actually mechanics play a HUGE role in getting hurt alot.
I know about pitcher mechanics and they are not the only thing that causes injury. If you get hurt a lot you get hurt a lot. Burnett has had to skip starts for arm related things and not arm related things, there are some players who are more injury prone than others. Even if you have mechanics like Clemens it doesn’t matter if you’re actually injury prone.
I think Burnett babies himself more then gets hurt, but its just my opinion.
I would have given this guy an opt-out, essentially giving him a contract year and adding incentive to play well. I don’t think anyone would mind if he opted out in 2-3 years
Uh….
I would. If he gets hurt in two years, HE WON’T OPT OUT. He’ll make money on the DL for the next 3.
Yeah but if he can opt out and hit free agency it gives him incentive to pitch and pitch well. He would have nothing to lose by it and my point was that the Yankees probably wouldn’t have much to lose either
Plus if he gets hurt it won’t change anything whether or not he has an opt out but it will give him motivation and incentive to stay healthy
It can only hurt us I think.
If he gets hurt then we are screwed either way but if he somehow “figures it out” and puts it all together we lose him.
Five years is just so dumb. Argh.
I would have rather had sheets or lowe…but i’m willing to go war with cc/wang/burnett/joba/andy or sheets.
Yeah Sheets who reportedly cant pass a physical.
Nice. Now let’s get Andy signed and we have a rotation.
Agreed. While I would have done otherwise, all we can do is hope for the best and pray that he stays healthy and effective for the majority of the 5 years.
But now that he’s here:
1) Sabathia – 3 years or 7 years
2) Wang – hopefully at least 5 years
3) Joba – hopefully the next decade
4) Burnett – 5 years
With that in place, Pettitte on a 1 year deal becomes a must. A MUST. Adding Lowe or Sheets would not be good. I do not want to lose any more future rotational flexibility.
Still better than Derek Lowe.
Welcome, AJ.
I think I’m gonna take it upon myself to give all the FAs who sign a tour of Fairfield County.
Fairfield County?! Not much to see there of interest, except big houses and white folk who like to play lacrosse.
If you saw me, you wouldn’t associate big houses or lacrosse with me, and I live in Fairifield Co.
Bridgeport is part of Fairfield Co too….so your generalizations are off base.
-Scott
I grew up in Fairfield County, right outside of BPT (born in Bridgeport Hospital baby). I was mostly joking, but I still think the idea of a tour of Fairfield County is pretty hilarious.
I would file it under nothing to see here folks, move along…
Oh it’s undeniably boring. But athletes like big houses. And, in general, the schools are pretty good, it’s a nice place to raise a family, etc.
take him to new canaan show him mike tysons house 50 bought and david lettermans house. chevy chace and bill murray livre around there too
AJ is a nyack kind of guy.
My cousin lives near 50′s old house in Farmington.
Some kids I used to be friends with lived down the street from the McMahons, that was semi-cool. Alan Houston lives in the same place and had an Obama fund-raiser there over the summer. I once played ball against Ron Howard’s kid and my dad (carpenter) did work on one of Tommy Hilfiger’s old houses–really nice dude.
Last summer, I umpired for one of the Wilpon’s kids–he was AWFUL…and on the Yankees, ironically enough.
OMG!
WHOA WHOA WHOA. Fairfield county has ALOT to offer. Norwalk alone has TWO MOVIE THEATERS!!! New Canaan is a quaint little town in which numerous celebrities live, as well as the owner of Jet Blue. It is a great place to live, and there are a record amount of houses for sale in the area! Sub-Prime mortgage rates
Brian Cashman lives in Fairfield County.
My mom got Andy Pettitte’s autograph during his first stint with the Yankees when he lived in Greenwich (where I’m from/live and I go to UConn–it’s awful going to school in Red Sox territory…but I just handed in my last final exam and I am fucking pumped). He came into her store and he signed a business card for me after she told him how much I loved him and how we had the same birthday.
My bro owns a small business in Westport and assorted semi-famous folks (like Imus) come in every once in a while. No Cash sightings though, otherwise I would be ecstatic.
I went to school in MA, so I can sympathize. Although I was there during the last Yankee dynasty, so the Red Sox ‘Nation’ that I was exposed to was not the same animal it is today. We used to get half-priced day of game bleacher seats for $5 all the time. Not happening these days.
half-priced bleacher seats at Fenway that is.
I work at the store where Cashman gets all of his clothing and has it tailored and stuff. It’s called Mitchells, and I heard the owner today telling a story to a client about one time when he was hanging out with Cashman and Lou Holtz.
My roommate last year was a huge Sox fan. He was at Fenway when they clinched the division last year.
All in all, though, the campus is pretty split Yankees/Red Sox. There’s a small Mets contingent but it’s very, very small.
We can all agree on one thing, though: Fuck Syracuse.
Aj better stay healthy!!!
I’m not a big fan of this deal at all, five years is absurd, but you gotta admit
CC
Wang
Burnett
Pettitte
Joba
Hughes
Aceves
Kennedy
looks very good.
Kennedy=should be traded for Ankiel
No.
Not remotely. Ankiel is wicked overrated.
If he’d never been a flamed-out pitcher, he’d be viewed on the level of an older, suckier David DeJesus. (Who is also wicked overrated, btw).
Probably a year too long, like the Sabathia deal. The AAV’s right where you would have expected it, and not in a bad way. It seems the Yanks have been pretty comfortable adding years to contracts for the last few winters. A-Rod, Posada, Mo etc last winter. Damon and Farnsworth before that and so on. It’s opposite to what Boston seems to be doing and clearly riskier. It hasn’t really worked so far so let’s hope for the best.
5 yrs. for this clown is a joke..
he doggs it and produces in walk yrs..
I do not want to have a ; pavano, wright, johnson, etc. repeat..
he better produce or boo his ass and he will deserve it….
How about when AJ produces and this staff leads us to the WS are you going to boo yourself?
for some reason, this made me laugh.
he better produce or boo his ass and he will deserve it….
Booing your own players is still a stupid concept I will never understand.
Well thats like a 3 or 4 game improvement on last years record even if burnett doesnt pitch a single inning
Heh, that’s a good point.
So the Yanks get the two best pitchers available. This just fills me with holiday cheer!
… provided that AJ Burnett was actually the second best pitcher. I’m not yet convinced.
A.J. Burnett was the second best strikeout artist. Derek Lowe and Ben Sheets are probably better pitchers.
Considering how below-average-to-bad the Yankees’ defense figures to be, getting the second best strikeout artist could be considered a better plan than simply going for a better “pitcher” who might be poorly affected, not only by switching from the NL to the AL, but to a vastly inferior defense.
Since many of the Yankees hitters are basically permanent fixtures, it’s much easier to target pitchers who miss bats than it is to improve the defense behind the pitching staff.
Between the money that Burnett earned in Toronto and the guaranteed $82.5 million that he’s scheduled to receive from the Yankees, his overall payout from the 2005 Toronto contract will amount to $115.5 million over eight seasons.
uhhhhh, except for the fact that they’re two different contracts so his payout from the 2005 toronto contract is what he already got paid and the payout from his NEW Yankee contract is 82.5 million….
seriously?
Yeah, I thought that was a stupid, off-topic addition to the story myself…
Again, we are the Yankees. Giving him 16.5 a year will NEVER preclude us from signing someone that we need. We are our own market, so the value of the deal is moot. We’re not the Giants who couldn’t get involved with CC because of one awful move with Zito. It just doesn’t work that way. Plus AJ eats Boston’s breakfast, lunch and dinner and add that to the fact that we no longer have to hit against him. I like this deal. WAAAY better than Lowe (with our wonderful defense) for 4 years and 70.
That’s true as long as you never, ever hope to trade the player.
We are not the Yankees. (Sorry, pet peeve.)
Amen. That annoys the shit out of me.
We don’t care.
j/k
It’s probably a good thing we’re not. Otherwise, we probably wouldn’t be able to combine our incomes to pay for even one of the big salaries (or most of the smaller ones).
Lebron uses “we” regarding the Yankees. I say we. When our troops go to war, we are as a nation at war, we arent troops but we use “we”. Now common stop being so touchy and enjoy the moment.
Don’t ever compare baseball to going to war, ever.
I didnt, it was a second example. Dont lecture strangers when you are out of base.
Thought you said basketball there. I am not comparing war with baseball. I am merely stating we use we, when we are a collective, in all cases.
You’re out of base!
(No idea what that means, but I like the sound of it.)
He didn’t.
Lebron uses “we” regarding the yankees.”
Irrelevant. And he shouldn’t say that, it’s stupid.
“When our troops go to war, we are as a nation at war, we arent troops but we use “we”. Now common stop being so touchy and enjoy the moment.”
We are Americans, thus the armed forces are our troops. We do not own the Yankees, nor are we a part of the organization. There’s a difference.
we are the yankees, that’s the point.
This is, apparently, not true anymore. Unless they go out and sign Tex after they sign Andy.
The Yankees needed a bat more than they needed Burnett’s 140-160 IP a season. They’re developing pitching. They’re not developing anything else.
If they don’t sign Tex or Dunn — or trade younger pitching for a bat — they’re going to have a hard time scoring runs. And when the 7th starter is out there because Joba’s hit his innings limit and Burnett is on the DL, that’s going to be a problem.
Not if the 7th starter is Aceves, IMO
Not to mention the improved defense Tex would bring.
Except his defense is at the least important defensive position. Even if you think 1B is underrated in terms of its importance to overall defensive quality (I might be inclined to agree), the truth is, he’s not that much better defensively than Swisher to make that a priority.
It’s the defense up the middle that greatly needs improvement. We can argue about improving defense at SS (totally separate topic, obviously), but CF appears to be a priority for the Yanks now, and I think they’ll still give some thought to trying to improve 2B (will a better year at the plate for Cano result in fewer defensive lapses?).
Thats when you bring up the young guns and give them a shot like we did with Wang and he turned out to be okay.
And he drinks their milkshake.. HE DRINKS IT UP
Here, if you have a milkshake, and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw. There it is, that’s a straw, you see? You watching?. And my straw reaches acroooooooss the room, and starts to drink your milkshake…
LMAO
I will open an account in your name and deposit your royalties there for every time I use that.
This is exactly the point. Why do you all care about the money/years on the deal? If you are not a Burnett fan (I am. The guy is gonna be sick for us in the 2/3 slot), fine, but the Yanks don’t need to be concerned about the years/money on a deal. They are printing money in Yankee stadium. We will be fine.
Our rotation is going to be awesome next year.
CC
Burnett
Wang
Joba
Pettitte/Sheets
Alternate:
Hughes
IPK
Aceves
Sick
Yeah it’s probably gonna be a waste of money to pay Burnett for 5 seasons. But at the end of the day, no matter how you stack it the Yankees just signed 2 of the top 3 starters available. It’s not like the Steinbrenners are gonna run out of money, just because this deal’s a bad idea doesn’t mean that it’s gonna hurt the team.
Sabathia
Wang
Chamberlain
Burnett
(Pettitte)
Hughes
Aceves
Kennedy
I wouldn’t wanna run into that top 4 in a playoff series.
AJ Burnett could prevent the Yanks from signing another better starter or letting one of the young pitchers play, because Burnett has to be in the rotation for the next 5 years. So it most definitely can hurt the Yankees.
Me no likey. We will see.
If they get three good, not even great, years out of him, I’ll be ecstatic.
I figure he’ll have one great one in the five, 2 sub par, 1 average and one above average. Hopefully. There will be lows but there will also definitely be some highs with AJ. Heres hoping to more of the latter.
I was thinking two above avg, one avg, one below avg, and one season worth of DL trips.
I was just factoring DL trips into all of those years.
… thats a bad sign right?
I think they’ll get one avg healthy year, one above-average healthy year, one year where he spends a lot of time on the DL but is very good when he manages to take the mound, ad then the other two he’ll pitch for 3-4 months and be average to below average when he does get out there.
Aaaaaad given that he tends to hit the DL for a month or two the year after he throws 200+ IP, I figure we’re in line for one of those injury-marred seasons. Hopefully, we’ll get the one where he’s very good when he manages to pitch — and his injuries won’t happen at a time when the rotation is already depleted.
If they can have the first two months of the 5 expected guys, and then spend the next four with Phil filling in for Joba, Burnett and Pettitte in shifts…that’d be the best, realistic scenario in my mind.
It would be nice if it worked out that way, but his MO seems to indicate that the DL trips will be spread evenly amongst the first 4 years of the contract.
he’ll pitch a no hitter but also miss what amounts to a full season spread throughout the contract.
In his career, Burnett has had 2 great season, and even then the ERA+ was only 119 and 122. Also that was 4 and 6 years ago in Florida. So I’d doubt we get a great year from Burnett. More like 1 completely lost to injury, 1 below average for 140 innings, 1 average at 150 innings, and 2 above average at 150 innings.
Mike pal, you sound it like such a far fetched idea. His sheer stuff is among the nastiest in the league.
Well, he could still fail his physical?
Burnett, not Sheets.
http://www.instantrimshot.com/
meh, not our money. I’m happy with it. I do prefer AJ to Lowe. I also prefer Sheets to Pettitte obviously. But losing a pick, taking on more than a year with Hughes and Kennedy in line, I think I’d rather us go with Andy. And put our two cents in the hat for Tex.
Let me just say, I personally saw Burnett absolutely own the yankees. He has the stuff, maybe eiland can fix him up. Hes a hell of a third starter.
“Let me just say, I personally saw Burnett absolutely own the yankees.”
Did you also see him suck against most other teams?
This looks, to me, like a case of generalizing from first-hand experience and discounting all the other available information. They saw AJ dominate them, so they wanted him. Apparently, it doesn’t matter that most years he’s on the DL a lot, and that he doesn’t pitch well against not-the-Yankees. He’ll be great in NY!
Well, I hope he is. But I’m not too optimistic.
He had 18 wins in the hardest division and the toronto offense supplying him with runs. I know wins is an over rated stat but that is still pretty good.
“Did you also see him suck against most other teams?”
This has been a popular argument against AJ around here… I’m not sure what I’m thinking necessarily debunks this argument, but hear me out…
In the second half of the 2008 season, AJ Burnett went 8-2 with a 2.86 ERA. In 14 starts, he went 94.1 innings and struck out 105 while walking 29. Also in the second half of the 2008 season, AJ Burnett faced the Yankees 4 times, the Red Sox 3 times and the Rays 2 times. In the first half he faced each of those teams 1 time.
Are we so sure that AJ is very good against the Yanks/Sox and bad against everyone else? He was hot in the second half, and he was good against all comers in the second half, and he just happened to face the Yanks and the Sox a disproportionate number of times during the second half… So people jump to the conclusion that ZOMG AJ IS ONLY GOOD AGAINST THE YANKEES. But maybe that’s not really so accurate.
lol Yeah that’s right… I think maybe you guys are the ones doing the ZOMGing this time. Sorry for the pointless comment, I just find the idea of turning around the ZOMG on the people who accuse people of ZOMGing all the time to be humorous.
Didn’t he pitch good against the bosox too?
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday.....;mode=wrap
And?
Do you also have gamedays for the myriad of rehab starts he threw in 2006 and 2007?
For some reason you think I am pro Burnett. I most certainly are not. He is better than most third starters and has had success against good teams. His 4 ERA in the AL east is probably better that Lowe’s 3.something in the NL west.
Fun Fact: AJ Burnett was the opposing pitcher in Phil Hughes’ first ML start.
and his most recent start.
Sept 24, 2008.
You guys are freegin ridiculous.
Its not YOUR money being spent. Dont worry about length and terms.. That’s an advantage of being a Yankee fan. As a football fan, Im a Buffalo Bills diehard and its the EXACT opposite.
If Burnett busts after 3 years or whatever, we’ll get someone else. Its the perk of being the NY Yankees.
For now, are you f’n kidding me? WE got Sabathia, Burnett, Wang and Joba in the rotation already? WE were running Sidney Ponson and Darrel Rasner and god knows what else out there just a few months ago.
Bask in this!!!
Its not YOUR money being spent. Dont worry about length and terms.
I HATE when people say this. HATE HATE HATE.
The Yankees do not have unlimited resources.
You can not just say this line when people make valid concerns about the intelligence of a contract/trade etc.
Thank you.
I don’t like when people say it, but not because the Yankees don’t have unlimited resources. I don’t like it because the time/$ factors in these cotnracts matter to roster construction and flexibility. If the Yankees could have an unlimited number of players on the payroll and have all the flexibility in the world, I would never care how much money they paid anyone. But those things DO matter.
No its not our money but its money that could have been used to fill a bigger hole at 1b.
And signing Burnett raised the odds that we’ll be paying Burnett’s salary while the next Darrell Rasner takes at least a season’s worth of his innings over the next five years.
That actually came out kind of stupid. Obviously signing Burnett increased the chance that we’ll be paying Burnett’s salary.
But, the point is that, if they’d signed Lowe, at least they’d be paying Lowe to pitch and not sit on the DL while an inferior pitcher takes his starts.
Rasner got shipped to Japan…so no chance of this happening
He said the next Darrell Rasner. I’m sure he’s well aware of Rasner leaving the country.
Kind of has to be Pettite over Sheets now with the injury concerns, right?
Yeah, that was my thought. With Sheets, Joba, and Burnett, we would be looking at 450 innings combined (850 total with CC/Wang), compared to 500 with Pettitte, Joba, and Burnett (900 total).
I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. I wonder if Cashman knows the risk he is taking. If Burnett dogs it, or gets hurt in year 1, his @$$ is grass and the fans, media, and good people at RAB will smoke it. At least Pavano’s transformation was unforeseeable…
I’m pretty sure Cashman knows the risk he is taking.
“At least Pavano’s transformation was unforeseeable.”
Wrong. http://riveraveblues.com/2008/.....ent-228126
How would you feel knowing that in a 4 game series you have to face CC wang Burnett Joba. Other teams are scared.
That’s the main positive in this signing. We now have 3 power pitchers. In general, power pitching is what wins in the playoffs (no Jamie Moyer references please). When you are playing for 1 or 2 runs, being able to get big strikeouts is huge, and now we have 3 guys that can strike out people with the best of them. Do I like the years and the money? No, but I can talk myself into this if they make the playoffs, and AJ is healthy when we get there.
Pavano’s “transformation” was very forseeable – he had one good year, and many trips to the DL.
Exactly
Ugh.
i’m certainly not crazy about AJB for 5 years. i think the lenghth of the contract is nuts. but because of the market forces, didn’t it basically come down to Lowe for 4 (season ages 36-39 or AJ for 5 (ages 32-36)? in that context, it’s somewhat understandable.
now you know why they are hanging on to hughes and kennedy….thats not bad strategy…burnett is a good pitcher…if he comes through…we are all the better for it….
Not too crazy about this, especially the length – but:
a) We’re eliminating a Yankee killer
2) He pitches as well against Boston
Cash wanted to make a big splash….
-Scott
Well, look at it this way: they’re paying him what they paid Pettitte the last two years.
And what we don’t wanna pay pettitte this year because his ERA+ was 98. oh, wait, burnett’s was 105… soooo much better.
I’m looking for any kind of positive here. Jerk.
fangraphs valued him at 82 mil for 5 years a week or so ago… i guess that can be looked at as a positive.
101 Ks and a 2.86 ERA in 91 innings in the second half.
When the Jays were out of it.
Which means it didn’t happen.
The teams he was pitching against were very much not out of it. I think that matters.
100% true. So if the Jays were out of it, maybe his teammates weren’t 100% into it, yet the teams he was playing were 100% into it fighting for the playoffs. It wasn’t exactly Eric Milton throwing September no-hitter against a team full of minor league callups here.
That’s crazy-talk. AJ Burnett has never pitched against a a team that was actually trying to win and only pitches well against the Yankees and Red Sox. (Not because he happens to be pitching well against everyone at the time, but because he is literally only able to pitch well against those two teams. When AJ was in high school, George Burns appeared out of a cloud of cigar smoke and made him this deal whereby AJ has amazing physical talent but can only harness such talent against the Yanks or BoSox. George Burns looked mischievous the whole time, smoking his cigar, but AJ made the deal anyway.)
Meh – I still don’t like this at all.
So we’re @ $39.5M out of $90M off the books right?
That leaves $50.5M? Assuming they want to cut payroll, maybe we’re looking at $40M more to spend.
If the Melky for Cameron deal comes through, it goes down to $30M
Tex would cost $20M
I believe that works out to the $180M target payroll that got thrown around a little while ago.
Someone please correct my hasty calculation if necessary
you have to take into account arb raises as well and filling out the rest of the roster i believe. someone posted it somewhere before.
Alex: $32
Derek: $20
CC: $23
AJ: $16.5
Mo: $15
Jorge: $13.1
Damon: $13
Matsui: $13
Swisher: $5.3
Wang: $5 (guess)
Marte: $3.75
Nady: $5.5 (guess)
Cano: $6
Molina: $1
Bruney: $1.2 (guess)
Miranda: $0.4
That’s $173.75, plus the reserve-clause guys (Joba, Phil, Gardner, etc.)
Thanks Joe. Do you think, financially, that this takes the Yanks out of it for Tex?
If they sign Pettitte and trade for Cameron, I would say it takes them out of it. They’re already near that smoke-screen $180 million mark. With Pettitte and Cameron at $10 mil each, they’ll be just a hair under $200 mil (considering the guys on the roster who will make ~$500K).
So would you say let Andy walk at any more than 10, forget Cameron, and push hard for Tex?
Me? Yes. The Yanks? Doesn’t look like it.
You also have to add another 10 mill if andy comes back plus another 8 or so if we make the trade for cameron plus a few mill for joba and a few of the bullpen arms puts us up over 190 mill the team u see now is the team u will see most of 2009
this is how Burnett looks like in pinstripes:
pic not showing?
here’s the link: http://www.brandyrich.com/Bran.....urnett.jpg
Now I know everyone’s down on Burnett, but showing up in a Marlins uni? He’s not THAT injury prone!
LMAO..true that.
Invisible?
I’m a very happy Camper!
This guy has figured it out and might just have the best stuff in Baseball.
Leiter knows him and say’s he’s figured out you don’t need to throw it 100 MPH to win and that will keep him healthy.
Leiter had plenty of injuries early on too and then pitched forever.
This is a VALUE signing.
I do not like this, not one little bit.
Seriously though, we’re paying $16M a year for FIVE years who has high WHIPs, has topped 200 IP three times, and will be 32 at season’s commencement. Do you want to see what Burnett looks like is at 36? I don’t.
Do you want to see what Lowe looks like at 40?
I’m against Lowe, too. I wanted Sheets for 2 years.
We are getting there. I wanted Burnett and Texieria when this started. Burnett is on a new training regimen and will be the full time starter that we all want to see. He is the best pitcher out there. Period.
Now go get Texiera and trade Cano for Kemp-forget about Cameron. Sign Hudson for 2nd base and we will have a hell of a 2009. Pitching Denfense and hitting!!! God Bless the Pinstripes and the Steinbrenners for stepping up!!!
I agree with you about the Yanks trying to go after Tex as well. I also agree with you about the Yankees forgeting about trying to acquire Mike Cameron. I don’t agree with you about trading Cano for Kemp because if Cano plays like he did in 2006/2007 then the Dodgers got the better of the deal. I say make a deal for Rick Ankiel to play CF, hes younger, better hitter, and better arm than Cameron!
Try to think of it like this:
After the 2010 season, the Yankees will have the following players under contract:
CC Sabathia (5 more years/1more year ~23M)
AJ Burnett (3 more years ~16.5M)
Alex Rodriguez (7 more years ~25M)
Jorge Posada (1 year ~13M)
Nick Swisher (2 years ~9M)
Damaso Marte (1 year+` ~4M)
Robinson Cano (1 year+2 ~11M)
And a host of young guys. For a total of about 110M with the kids factored in. There is also the potential of all but 3 of those players leaving the next year
That’s really not that bad. At all.
Sure, the idea of Burnett for 5 years sucks because we all know that he’s probably not going to give 5 good years and that 5th season is likely to be crappy. And yes, having three large, 5+ year contracts generally stinks.
But almost the entire roster is changing over in the next two years. And Arod and CC are about as good long term contracts as you can get in terms of expected production.
So in terms of the money argument, well, this deal will probably stop them from signing Tex, but it sure seems like that wasn’t going to happen anyway. But it wont stop them from signing anyone else in future years.
In terms of years, it sucks only from a strictly value perspective, in that AJ is unlikely to live up to his contract worth. But its not like the 5th year is going to cripple the team or leave them locked into a player that precludes any other movement.
Don’t forget that the Braves also offered 5 years, tambien. Him going 8-2 2era the second half seems to not be a fluke to me. Let’s stop looking to the past and look to the future. Sheets ended teh season injured. Lowe is 36 already. Burnett is the best of the 3. Good signing. Rotation is officially kickass: CC, CMW, AJ, Joba, PHranchise.
bottom line is that with burnett the 2009 rotation is better than last year.
You know what, this organization never learns. Five years for a pitcher who has PROVEN he cannot stay healthy? It’s the same old Yankees…getting the best guy out there, regardless of price or committment, without ANY regard for the consequences.
In the end we’re basically getting what brought this organization down the first place, overpaid players who we sign into their late 30′s and wonder why they’re not good anymore.
It’s getting increasingly hard to remain a Yankees fan. It’s going to be REALLY hard to be a Yankees fan when C.C. and A.J are stinking up the stadium 5 years from now.
Really? Increasingly hard to be a Yankees fan? Why is that? Because they spend a lot of $ for players? Because they make some bad decisions from time to time? Do tell.
Because its not like this is a new phenomenon, so either you have only recently become a Yankee fan, or you are perhaps overreacting just a smidge
Couple names to throw out here:
1) Jaret Wright
Tanyon Sturtze
2) Kevin Brown
3) Javier Vazquez
4) Jose Contreras
5) Randy Johnson (not all that bad)
6) Kenny Rogers
7) LaTroy Hawkins
9) Carl Pavano
10) Jered Weaver
etc. etc. etc.
It’s been hard to sit through all of these players failures that’s what happens when you try to buy success instead of growing it yourself. Thats why these things are called gambles. However, just because they didn’t succeed doesn’t mean Burnett will do the same and if its hard to watch the Yankees than don’t…we don’t need half-hearted members in our fanbase.
You forgot Igawa.
CC is 28 and Burnett is turning 32, so who is in their late 30s that we signed? Listen if you listen to Mike Francesa, then you will not like AJ, but Francesa only knows about 30% of the garbage that comes out of his mouth!
I believe he means signed into their late 30s, referring to AJ where he’ll be 37 at the end. Though, that’s not exactly “late” 30s if you ask me.
Ok that I can understand, but every team does that. Not just the Yankees so again his comment doesn’t make any sense. BTW, we signed Mussina to a 7 year deal when he was like 32. Looked how that turned out, 1 really bad year 2-3 solid years and 3-4 good/great years. (that is what teams are hoping for when signing a pitcher long term) Everybody knows that pitchers who are signed to long term deals that your not getting a great pitcher for all the years.
Keep telling yourself that.
A.J’s going to give us 210 innings of 3.80 ball at 36!!! He’s proven he can stay healthy and do it!!!
I’m on board with you now.
Go kick yourself in the face.
What you think Lowe would be better at 40? Go get a life and actually learn something.
In 5 year CC is in Cali and AJ is the Number 5 with Joba, Brackman, Hughes, and one of our other young guys all in there prime.
Speak for yourself Frank.
I am. I buy tickets, I pay for merchandise. I have a right to disagree and I don’t blindly follow any dumb decision this organization makes.
Zack… well you’re just dumb and proved my points.
The point is.. they are all GOING to be in their late 30′s. You think Burnett will stink in year 5? Try year TWO! If he isn’t already on the DL. If you don’t have a problem with this deal then there is no hope for you.
Then don’t buy tickets. Unless they were getting Peavy then this is the best thing for the Yankees to do. Would you rather pay 16 mil/year for a 36 Lowe, NO THANKS! They are not relying on him to be the staff Ace, he is going to be between #2-4 in the rotation. This makes our rotation better! Complain if they get Mike Cameron.
Oh I will! LOL! Cameron is just a logical fit now to this team.
What does Lowe have anything to do with the fact that THIS is a bad signing????
Because it was Burnett or Lowe and I would rather have Burnett.
Um, thats not actually a response. But, no, actually, I’m not dumb and I didn’t prove your points.
Oh burnett, I wonder how I would feel if I didnt hate your face?
http://i48.photobucket.com/alb.....N08212.jpg
Increasingly hard to be a yankees fan? they just improved their biggest weakness from last year with 2 signings and their not done yet and your going into a new stadium, go be a cubs fan
Technically the biggest weakness was scoring runs, but whos keeping track?
Their biggest weakness was albatross contracts to past their prime players who get hurt and/or don’t produce.
Say hello to Jason Giambi, Pavano, Wright, Randy Johnson, Damon, and Matsui for me.
Burnett is soon to join their ranks.
I’m not saying you’re totally wrong. You do have a point. However, Damon? Come on. The dude’s been stellar two out of three years for us.
We were able to turn Wright after 2 years on a 3 year deal into a 23 year old reliever who makes some appearances with the yanks.
just to break away from this…
Boston offically have no catchers as of now as they nontendered Kevin Cash.
So just looking ahead to the future, assuming that the team elects to bring back Pettite for one more year at let’s say around $13 mil., it looks like the Yanks will have plenty of money to throw around in next years free agent class as well. By my count they will dump Damon and Matsui (13 each) as well as Cameron (let’s assume this trade will go through, so that’s another 10) and Nady, who will probably be paid around 5 this year. Since Pettite will be going as well that comes out to about $54 mil. coming off the books. Presumably one of the zillion prospects will be ready to step in for Pettite, and Austin Jackson will take over in center. That leaves holes in left, right, and DH. Now the only legitimate free agent in next years class seems to be Matt Holliday, who we could easily get given how much cash will be available. He plugs into a corner outfield spot, but that still leaves the other corner, as well as DH as holes to fill. From glancing quickly at the list of who’s available is seems like Aubrey Huff at DH (or 1B if you move Swisher to the outfield) makes the most sense. Or you could sign Adam Dunn now. Either way, even with the massive expenditure on pitching now, the team looks to be getting younger and cheaper going forward.
Ugh, no thanks on Huff..
Clearly the best option is to sign Tex or Dunn now.
This team has shown NO ability to get younger or cheaper. Fans like me were excited to break away from albatross signings of the past and get younger, but it was obviously a farce.
We’ve payed the price for contracts like these in the past.. but this will be different… for some reason…… sure. Might as well sign Giambi back while we’re at it. Get Randy Johnson back here.
Frank, the bigger idea is to get younger and to stay away from midmarket free agents, like Pavano and Wright. Fill most of the team with homegrown talent, but still use the resources available to land the major players when they are available. The Yankees have changed their draft and development strategy, as well as their policy of trading prospects before they reach the majors. There is no reason to want them to pocket money that could be used to give the fans the best team possible.
swisher is 28 cc is 27
AH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
One important thing to note; even though Burnette is injury prone he does at least pitch 25 or so games per year. Obviously, this isn’t ideal, but he doesn’t miss the entire year or anything like that. For this season, we can expect Burnette to start 25 games for us, and the other ten will be filled in by somebody like Hughes, Kennedy, or Aceves. This is looking a lot better than Ponson, Rasner, and Pavano.
CJ-
“bottom line is that with burnett the 2009 rotation is better than last year.”
…And that’s the point as in point blank! We root for wins not contract numbers
I really cant hate this signing. I mean the years are too long but cashmen did what he said he was going to do. He got the best two available starter without giving up any prospects this offseason, how can i be mad at that?
Well, at least now the Yanks have three guys in the rotation that can miss bats consistently. When was the last time they could say that?
Uh…2001? Even then, Pettitte wasn’t exactly a bat-misser.
CC vs Kazmir
Wang vs Shields
Burnett Vs. Garza
Pettite vs. Sonnanstine
Joba vs. Price
Which is the best in the Al east?
CC > Kazmir
Wang > Shields
Burnett > Garza
Pettite > Sonnanstine
Joba > Price
God bless your optimism.
CC > Kazmir
Wang < Shields
Burnett = Garza
Pettitte (who’s not even on the team) = Sonnanstine
Joba < Price
Im not sure you can say Joba < Price just yet. Joba has proved he can get through a major league line up three times how many times has price done that?
Price has held up over a full season as a starter several times, Joba’s done it just once, three years ago at Nebraska. Their stuff is the same, and you have to give Price bonus points for being a lefty.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d take Joba on my team any day of the week. I’d just want Price a tiny bit more.
I agree w/everything else but at this point, I’d say Joba = Price. Neither has had a particularly large sample size to work with so I’d be more inclined to call it even.
Price is going to be filthy, though.
Joba > Price? Really? Price has 1/3 of a season of experience, Joba 1.5. Their stuff is basically the same, true. I also tend to think that, in balance, Wang = Shields.
Sorry, I meant “Price > Joba?”
Today was a nightmare, I was on the bus and happened to be surrounded by Met fans bragging about K-rod. “He saved 62″ blahhh blahhh. Note to them: Wait till you find out the best closer on the staff is really your set up guy!”
Which will make them a better team. Putz will pitch in more high leverage situations.
I was thinking the same thing… bundling those two moves was actually a brilliant move by Omar because it allows the Mets to use their best reliever in a more flexible fashion without falling out of favor with the MSM who cannot fathom the thought of a non-traditional (at least according to current bullpen use trends) relief ace.
since Chris Capuano have been nontendered by the Brewers, why do I have a feeling that Cashman will sign him? Cashman wanted Capuano before spring training began this past season before his injury, good thing that didn’t go through.
Chris Burke for utilty role? He could play the OF and the IF.
Re: Burke–All that’s attractive is his 2006 season and his 1st round pedigree. His defense isn’t that good, and he hasn’t hit in two years. I mean, he could merit a spring training invite but not much more.
On Capuano–he’s recovering from TJS (happened 9 mos. ago) and can be a nice 4th starter; solid insurance. Why not sign him?
I was thinking about Capuano being the 4th starter if Pettitte doesn’t come back after I had posted that. He pitched over 200 innings twice, and could catch a lighting in a bottle with him. maybe Cashman already contacted him after after he’s been nontendered.
right after***
Well, more reason for people to hate the Yankees. 5 years 82.5 million for 32-year-old often-injured pitcher can’t say I’m jumping for joy, but it’s better then having two rookies at the end of the rotation. Cashman has some big balls because if AJ goes the way of Pavano he would have lost 168 million between AJ, Pavano and Igawa. I’m sure Cashman would be looking for a new job if that happens.
prediction: burnett will not be in a yankee uni in 2 yrs
Where the heck else is he gonna be?
i dont know but i dont think he will finish out the contract
on what grounds
its just a feeling
they are giong to use him as a stop gap and then trade him when the young pitchers come up
For whom would they trade him? Let’s say he finishes out 2010 as a Yankees–he has 3yr/$50M on his deal at age 34. That’s a lot of money in a #2/#3 guy at that age. Could you get a high projection/low probability guy (e.g. Kevin De Leon in the Yanks’ system)? Maybe. But unless he’s really good and pitches 180+ innings both seasons (selling high, but doubtful) I don’t see why you’d trade him.
You don’t thats why it was a stupid comment. If hes playing well hes not going anywhere and if he is sucking hes still not going anywhere.
This would be a horrific deal if we were a small market team signing him to be our staff ace. The reality is were not, and as a #3 pitcher, Burnett is pretty nasty. He has one of the best fast ball curveball combinations in the game and is capable of overpowering a great offensive team. And even though asking for 5 years of moderately good health from A.J. Burnett into his mid-30s is a lot, hopefully his inevitable injuries will happen later rather then sooner, just as our minor league pitching depth is ready to take off in the majors.
this damn contract better not have a no trade clause if it does i will be more pissed
This damn contract better not have a no trade clause. If it does, I will be more pissed.
why is this happening? This is ridiculous. Ben Sheets yes AJ Burnett no 5 years to a guy who will 32 on opening day no
He’ll be 36 at the end of the contract. Not ancient.
the yanks non-tendered britton and christian by the way. i’m happy that we have AJ. i agree that the length is kinda nuts but that was the market established for him so the yanks went with it.
i would much rather the yanks save their money from a pettite or sheets and focus that money on a bat. i’m not necessarily saying tex but at some point you are going to use up all of your available funds on one area while completely neglecting a legitimate concern, which is the lineup. i know its a little risky because you have two young guys, but i would slide hughes in the 5 spot. at some point, you have to see if your young guys can make it with the big club and with cc, aj and wang i think you can get away with it. if they sign one more pitcher i wouldn’t be upset but i would be frustrated with the conscious decision to not address an aging lineup with real question marks (at least in my mind they are real question marks).
I’d rather be top heavy with pitching. Pitching wins championships.
i agree, but it would be nice to be able to score runs instead of leaving guys on base all season like last year.
Jorge Posada was injured all year, we had a black hole in CF and Robbie had a down year. Just waiting a year changes those situations and while Gardner won’t be a monster in CF, hopefully he’ll be able to get on base and generate runs. The offense can rebound nicely. The pitching staff needed an overhaul and fast and Cashman put the money where he needed to.
Does anybody remember the Yankees high pont last season. Well I do. It was a Saturday FOX game in Boston when Pettitte beat Wakefield to move the Yanks within 3.5 games of Boston. The next game was a Sunday night game on ESPN. Lester Vs. Ponson. PONSON. The Yanks were killed and never got that close again. This signing does not mean first place. It does mean that we have a much better chance though. Thats all we can ask.
[...] Joe e-mailed me the news of the A.J. Burnett signing, I forwarded the confirmation along to my dad, and he and I had a brief e-mail exchange about [...]
[...] for the Yankees, A.J. Burnett will take the mound this afternoon. The Yanks signed Burnett to a five-year, $82.5 million deal in December, and at the time, Joe didn’t like it. Burnett was impressive this spring, but [...]
Liked reading your site, it’s a lot like my site! If you have time, you can take a look at my website. Anyone is able to leave comments and it’s always good to get opinions from people I don’t know.